It was the middle of Fall. A light wind ruffled the yellow and orange leaves, giving the park a melodiously cool tune despite the humid and hot weather of a September; also known, as a perfectly fall day to be outside.
Along the dotted sidewalk, you could spot, or rather hear the Mum's too frugal, independent, or naïve to hire a well placed nanny; their voices ringing throughout the park, with threats of delayed treats and time outs, and hints of underlying fatigue that rang true to the strangers about them. The children though, didn't seem to care, as they continued to be the little tyrants of sticky finger villages and juice box houses, vying to push their parents to the limits; the octaves of their voices often rising, those brave Mum's.
Every so often, a jogger would deviate from there morning stroll, slowing down to listen to the tyrants and their Mums, a smile playing on their lips as they watched and often thought - what mischievous children. What good would it be to break personal records, if there wasn't a little fun in life? So the runners would slow, and when the children passed they would continue with cheery and uplifting music pumping through their veins. Their footsteps were light, as they avoided the Mums and their children, cute old couples, and the stressed college students that inhabited the sidewalks, benches and trails of the old park.
On one of these worn down and beaten benches, that rested rather out-of-the-way, sat a nineteen year old girl with strikingly blue eyes that had shadows of darkness anchored around them. Her shoulders drooped, and her hair was slightly frizzy, and unknowing to her, this gave the people around her a clear picture of who she was at that time - a college student.
The girl was comforted by the soft cool lull of the wind in the old park, often running to relieve one of the many stresses accompanying the life of a college student, but not today. Today she had finished her midterms, and with a sense of accomplishment, she was proud (oh so very proud), but she was also, very tired.
So she sat, resigning herself to just listen to good music, and to enjoy the cool weather of a perfectly fall September day. The sun on her face felt rather good, and even with her tired eyes, she couldn't resist a smile. Felling precisely safe in that moment, with the tingle of the sun on her skin, and the leaves partially breaking the light, she felt dead exhausted. Her Mum had always said she was like a cat. Cool, resigned, and always lazy sleepy in the sunshine. With the fond memoria of her Mum resting on her mind, she gently lays her jacket beside her in a crumpled heap, pulls her knees into her side and decides to just take a short rest. Finally. As her mind drifts, one thought ties her to her sleep - nothing can happen to me on a old park bench in broad daylight.
While the fatigue ridden blue-eyed college student slept, with bliss written in the shallow breaths and sighs coming from her chapped lips, unknowing to her, every breath was being accounted for. One of the many people she had passed was watching her. He had a grey sweatshirt with grease stains on the left side, and a somewhat questionable air that hung about him. He had followed the girl for awhile now, and although she may have registered in on him a few times, she took no notice. Accounting her paranoia to being along in the big city. From her busy, student filled college, to the park, even keeping up with her morning runs, to her favourite deli on the corner where she liked to order chicken sandwiches with no crust, and extra lettuce. He took pride in remembering things. She wasn't the only one he followed, also on his list was a beautiful golden haired nanny, the daughter of the preacher who often fed him on Saturday mornings, and a darkly haired librarian who always gave him an extra bookmark and a smile. They all had their charms, and he would eventually have them all, but right now he just needed someone to love him. The last girl he took, had become annoying after a few weeks, and in the wee hours of the morning he had put her down. Always trying his patience, plotting ways to escape from him, throwing the love he showed her back in his face with vile words. In the end she had begged him to love her, to let her love him, but he refused and with a single shot he had killed her in cold blood. He had stared at her body for several minutes, the proceeded to clean her up, and leave her in the trash dump with a kiss where he knew someone would find her.
Two women had found her much to his incessant delight, a young blond with secrets hiding behind her eyes, which were also a delicious shade of blue, and an older weary looking brunette, with dark brown and beautiful eyes. They were beautiful enough to add to his list he thought, for the time being, the girl with the cat like nature before him was his exact shade of purity, and exactly what he wanted. As he watched her sleep, reveling in the moments as she fell deeper and deeper asleep with her face to the park, he found himself shivering from anticipation; this was his moment.
With his legs creaking, and his back stiff, it was only a side thought as he pulled a ratty glasses cloth from his pocket, and a glass vial with a screw on lid. Inching toward the girl his grin grew wider, and as he tossed her unconscious body inside the truck of his car, he didn't think his smile would ever leave him again.